Spartan - almost like back then
06/15/2019
A minimalist sports car with an unladen weight of 550 kg and an engine with up to 400 hp? Today? Sounds incredible and, if you think about road approval, it is. But the Spartan from the two Australian brothers Nick and Peter Pap is not intended for the road, but for the race track. The Spartan is intended to be an ideal toy for providing fun on track days.
Visually, the Spartan is reminiscent of sports car prototypes from the sixties and the tubular frame is also nostalgic. However, the technology is not based on old-fashioned components, on the contrary.
The two brothers started out with the idea of powering their sports car with a Ducati two-cylinder engine, but they had to realize that this engine was not reliable enough. So they replaced it first with a forced-induction Honda Jazz four-cylinder engine and more recently with a Honda 2.4-liter engine with turbocharger.
After more than 30 years of development, the Paps want to build the car in a small series , a maximum of 300 cars, at a unit price of 150,000 Aussie dollars (approx. EUR 92,000 or CHF 103,000). That's no mean feat.
However, the Australians are not the first car manufacturers to offer sports cars under the Spartan name.
The company "Spartan Cars", founded by Jim McIntyre in Pinxton, Derbyshire, United Kingdom, already existed in the 1970s. Initially, roadsters in pre-war style were offered on the basis of Triumph Herald chassis, later own chassis developments were added, including the Treka, a vehicle with Fiesta technology in Jeep style. Around 4000 kits were produced until 1995, when the company was closed.
